July 15, 2009

A Clear Necessity: Refresh Yourself!

Ion exchange resins for the reliable demineralization and decolorizing of sugar solutions for the production of beverages

Whenever the temperatures rise, beverages offer quick releave from thirst – especially Soft drinks popular. An indispensable component of many of these drinks is sugar. For technical and economic advantages, the beverage industry no longer uses crystallized sugar as the sweetening agent and flavor carrier, but prefers to work with sugar solutions, syrups and other liquid sweeteners. Before production can begin, mineral salts, colored impurities and other undesirable substances have to be removed from the sugar-containing raw solutions; otherwise these would change and alter the taste and color of the drinks. Ion exchange resins from the Lewatit product line of LANXESS help to remove these impurities and mineral salts to ensure that such solutions comply with the stringent quality demands of the beverage manufacturers and their customers.

Hans-Karl Soest, head of Technical Marketing for the food sector in the LANXESS Ion Exchange Resins business unit, says: "Our Lewatit ion exchange resins are used throughout the world by major sugar manufacturers. This includes many companies in the beverage industry who make their own sugar solutions."

With the heterodisperse grade Lewatit S 6328 A and the monodisperse grade Lewatit S 6368, LANXESS can offer two ion exchange resins tailored specifically to the decolorization of sugar solutions. They are based on a crosslinked polystyrene matrix, and because of their macroporous structure, such resins are exceptionally stable during the process and exhibit good adsorption of the colored impurities.

Please find further information in our _press release.